HISTORICAL ACHIEVEMENT.
Bracebridge resident Ken Veitch receives the Lieutenant Governor’s
Ontario Heritage Award for Lifetime Achievement at Queen’s Park on
Friday, February 24, 2012. From the left are: Richard Moorhouse,
executive director of the Ontario Heritage Trust; Ken Veitch; and the
Hon. David C. Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
Photo by Tessa J. Buchan
This web site has been created as a resource tool for those interested in searching the early history of Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada and to a some extent that of the surrounding area of Muskoka. This site describes the Veitch Index that provides information on people, places and events that lived, existed or occurred here many years ago.
Kenneth Carman Veitch, the former Municipal Clerk-Administrator for the Town of Bracebridge, throughout his career always had an interest in Bracebridge history and was intrigued by the struggles of early pioneers in developing this great District of Muskoka. Pursuing that interest, he collected books, articles, items of interest and whatever else he could find and assembled files that he maintained in the Bracebridge Municipal Office.
As a result of those efforts he was often the one the public turned to when seeking information about those early days. When he retired after 30 years service with the Town he found that it was not so easy leaving his interest behind as he continued to get enquiries from an appreciative public. He was always interested in helping others in their historical searches and no one was turned away; but the requested searching was time consuming and with his other interests he found his time very compromised.
To facilitate this work he decided it had to be much more readily accessible. He reorganized all the reports and articles he was preparing for others and highlighted in his various historical books and collections each event, name, club, church and whatever else he felt may be of interest and started an index. With this indexing system he could, at a glance, find the book and page where an item of interest appeared and with little effort find that item highlighted in the designated location.
After thousands of hours and entries his indexing system now provides a relatively easy way of finding information for others. While it is not a complete list of every person and thing, it is a significant resource for those seeking information on early days in Bracebridge. Twenty-five historical books, manuals and personal collections are now part of the index stream covering from the mid 1800’s to the 1940’s with many references as recent as 2000. He has now made his services available to others.
Brief initial enquiries are provided without cost, however, there is a charge for more in depth searching and reporting.